Book 12 and Three Quarters
by greywolf7
Summary: What happened to Odysseus between the death of his crew by Charybdis and Scylla and his arrival on Oygyia, Calypso's island. A missing book of the Odyssey


_I floated on for nine days. (12.465)_

Book 12 ¾

At the beginning of the ninth day after the death of Odysseus' crew

And cunning Odysseus' escape from dread Charybdis and monstrous Scylla,

Godlike Odysseus washed up on the shore of a small island.

The island looked like paradise,

With tall trees loaded with fruit and clear lakes of fresh water,

But no animals, the godlike hero was the only living thing

As far as the eye could see.

But still Odysseus, delirious with hunger and dying of thirst,

Ventured to the water's edge and drank until he was almost drowned.

Then took a fruit from a branch dangling down from a tall tree

And ate until his stomach, a man's worst enemy, was full.

Suddenly, a sound of horrible pinching and hissing filled the air.

And to Odysseus' horror, monstrous creatures emerged,

Scorpions, larger than any man,

With stingers in the air poised to strike.

Quickly godlike Odysseus pulled his sword and poised himself

To attack the vicious looking creatures.

Then faster than the blink of an eye the first scorpion, the leader of the pack,

Struck out catching Odysseus in the leg.

The godlike hero looked weak as he collapsed to the ground

Unable to move, for the stinger had paralyzed his leg.

And so Odysseus lay on the ground unable to get up,

Leg splayed below him.

But the cunning hero would not give up,

He pulled his sword in front of his face

Looking both threatening and protective.

The scorpions started circling him,

_Wolves encircle their prey once it has fallen_

_ It cannot escape and now the predator is merely_

_ Looking for the best way to kill._

So the scorpions encircled the hero of the Trojan War.

And cunning Odysseus tried desperately to strike out

And possibly destroy one of the evil creatures.

But as his arm moved forward a scorpion struck out from behind

And caught Odysseus in the arm.

Fire,

His arm felt as if it were on fire,

And with a cry cunning Odysseus dropped the sword

Where it clattered on the sand and was ignored by the evil predators.

Godlike Odysseus glanced down at his sword arm

And screamed in shock,

_A goat that has roasted on a fire to long_

_ Is black and charred on the surface _

_ With cooked meat hiding below _

So was Odysseus' arm.

With this revelation black spots crept across the cunning hero's vision;

The last thing he felt was another stinger striking his chest,

And his body going unwillingly stiff.

Thus the evil creatures took the great hero by the ankles

And dragged his paralyzed, unconscious body across the sand,

To the colony where his feet would be decided by the great Queen.

In a language consisting only of clicks and pinches

The great Queen decided that the cunning hero

Would make a wondrous feast meal,

And that he was to be taken to the cells below to rot.

The Grey eyed goddess watched Odysseus' plight with cold eyes,

The cunning hero needed to suffer a bit more before safety could be obtained.

But so that godlike Odysseus would have a chance

Zeus' grey eyed daughter counter-acted the paralyses so the cunning warrior

Could fight his way out.

When the Odysseus woke the first thing he noticed was the pain.

His whole body felt alight with fire,

Bruises and cuts marred every surface,

And cursed sand had entered every wound,

Filling the wound on his chest with yellow pus,

This was draining wherever more cuts had been made.

Odysseus was in a small cell, barley large enough for him;

Moss hung from the walls and dripped onto the heroes face

Leaving tear marks of green.

Outside the cell stood two scorpions,

Smaller than the ones who attacked him,

But still large enough to eat Odysseus for dinner.

With a snarl Odysseus grabbed his dagger with his uninjured arm.

Luckily they had not seen it as a threatening weapon and left it on his belt,

And launched himself at the two guards.

Quickly the two stingers crashed to the ground

Followed shortly by the bodies, already cooling in death.

Slowly Odysseus, still aware of his wounded arm,

Made his way up the stairs, to the nest of the queen.

The Queen was a gruesome creature with a stinger the size of a small child

And eyes that pierced your soul.

Around her stood twenty scorpions

And as they became aware of an intruder in their mist

They turned to godlike Odysseus, stingers poised ready to strike.

With strength only a god could bestow on a mortal

Odysseus flung into battle.

Faster than the eye could see, one scorpion dropped,

Then two, and before long the entire throne room

Was littered with the bodies of scorpions, splayed this way and that,

_As the bodies of prisoners fall _

_After the guardsman decides they are no longer worth keeping_

_Splattered on the floor, heads separated from bodies_

_And the guardsman stands in the sea of bodies_

_One man above the dead_

So Odysseus.

The Queen slunk away to her chambers far below the earth.

Cunning Odysseus waivered on his feet for a moment

Before Pallas Athena breathed strength into him and sent him on his way

Back to the poor excuse for a raft he had left on the beach.

Odysseus did not realize the steep slope he was climbing,

Or how his pace had slowed until it was almost a shuffle.

Nor did he realize how his arm was leaving a steady trail of blood.

No, the hero of Troy only saw the path to the raft.

And when he was on it he only had enough energy to push it out to sea

And ensure that the current would take it away from the horrible island.

Before Pallas Athena relieved him from pain and fatigue,

And closed his eyelids.

_On the tenth night_

_The gods brought me to Oygyia_

_And to Calypso, the dread, beautiful goddess,_

_Who loved me a took care of me. (12.465-468)_


End file.
